Case Studies

Customer
PSS - Physician Supply & Service - a Medical supplies distributor

Description
For healthcare professionals having the proper supplies is critical as it can determine the level of patient care. Not having a proof-of-delivery system that reports real-time updates of medical shipments, Physician Sales & Supply (PSS), a medical supply distributor, realized that its customers were greatly inconvenienced -- medical staff would have to delay procedures – and that its paper-based system was affecting its bottom line. Its solution was a network that provides customers with real-time updates on their shipments and can immediately reroute a shipment to suit a customer’s changing needs.

How the System Works

• QuickTrack extracts the order information from the system.
• Once a driver has filled his orders from the warehouse, he scans the bar code invoice numbers in the order of delivery by using the detectable bar code scanner.
• The mobile computer cradled in a stationary dock automatically updates the branch server with the details of the driver’s intended route.
• The receiving agent signs for the package directly on the screen of the mobile computer using the attached stylus. Their electronic signature is stored in the computer.
• The vehicle docking station immediately transmits all delivery information via BellSouth Wireless Data Network to the branch server where it is stored in an Oracle database. The server also acts as an interface to the PSS’s proprietary system Alpha Micro.
• Delivery information is then posted on an internal Web site at PSS that allows customer service representatives to instantly access a driver’s activities and destination.

Components

• Intermec's PEN*KEY mobile computers with docking stations and detachable bar code scanner from Norand Mobile Systems
• QuickTrack, a customized version of LocusOne Communications’ OneTrac* - 
  • Incorporates Oracle database and branch server
• Bell South Wireless Data Network
• Alpha Micro (PSS’s proprietary invoice, inventory and billing system)

Paper-based System vs. New Communications System

PSS’s paper-based system involved collecting, filing and storing over a thousand signed invoices per day. PSS staff traced signed invoices manually which was labour intensive and highly inefficient. PSS estimates it lost $5 million per year due to communication inefficiency.

In contrast, its automated solution has eliminated or reduced the problems inherent in the paper-based system.

• Customer service representatives can now trace invoices via a Web browser and proof-of-delivery can be verified by the receiver’s electronic signature.
• Customers can now trace their own packages thus reducing the company’s labour cost.

*Now offered as LocusOne’s e-Mobile Delivery